Faulks last name popularity, history, and meaning

Find out how popular the last name Faulks is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Faulks.

Meaning of Faulks

A surname likely derived from a place name or describing someone who lived near fallow (plowed but unseeded) land.

Faulks, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Faulks surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Faulks in America

Faulks is the 21830th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Faulks surname appeared 1,191 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Faulks.

We can also compare 2010 data for Faulks to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 21830 21209 2.89%
Count 1,191 1,153 3.24%
Proportion per 100k 0.40 0.43 -7.23%

The history of the last name Faulks

The surname Faulks originates from England and dates back to the late 12th century. It is derived from the Old French word "faucon," meaning falcon, and likely referred to someone who was a falconer or worked with falcons in some capacity.

The earliest recorded instance of the name appears in the Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire in 1199, where a Robert Faucun is listed. Other early spellings include Faucun, Faucon, and Faukener, reflecting the name's French origins.

In the Domesday Book of 1086, there are several entries for places with names that may be related to the surname Faulks, such as Falconer's Green in Oxfordshire and Faulconbridge in Kent. These place names suggest that the name was already in use before the Norman Conquest.

During the 13th and 14th centuries, the name Faulks began to appear in various records across England, particularly in the counties of Yorkshire, Lincolnshire, and Norfolk. One notable bearer of the name was Sir Walter Fauconberge, a knight who fought in the Wars of Scottish Independence in the early 14th century.

In the 16th century, the spelling of the name became more standardized as Faulks or Faulkes. One of the earliest recorded individuals with this spelling was John Faulkes, who was born in Gloucestershire in 1520 and served as a judge during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

Other notable individuals with the surname Faulks include:

  1. Arthur Faulks (1851-1930), a British politician and Member of Parliament for Newcastle-under-Lyme.
  2. William Faulks (1776-1849), an English artist known for his landscape paintings.
  3. Sebastian Faulks (born 1953), a contemporary British novelist and author of works such as "Birdsong" and "Charlotte Gray."
  4. Edward Faulks (born 1956), a British barrister and author who has written several legal texts and historical biographies.
  5. Henry Faulks (1839-1904), an English cricketer who played for Gloucestershire County Cricket Club in the late 19th century.

Throughout its history, the surname Faulks has retained its association with falconry and the handling of birds of prey, reflecting the occupational origins of the name.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Faulks

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Faulks.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

  1. White only
  2. Black only
  3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
  4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
  5. Hispanic
  6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Faulks was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 42.49% 506
Non-Hispanic Black Only 51.47% 613
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 2.77% 33
Hispanic Origin 2.43% 29

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Faulks has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 42.49% 44.93% -5.58%
Black 51.47% 50.30% 2.30%
Asian and Pacific Islander (S)% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% (S)% (S)%
Two or More Races 2.77% 2.34% 16.83%
Hispanic 2.43% 1.65% 38.24%

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Faulks was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Faulks, please contact us.

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"Faulks last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on December 22, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/faulks-surname-popularity/.

"Faulks last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/faulks-surname-popularity/. Accessed 22 December, 2024

Faulks last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/faulks-surname-popularity/.

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